I am an independent journalist; recently I was embedded with a group of North Carolina Veterans associated with the Veterans Stand For organization. This and future articles reflect my time at Standing Rock, information I was able to collect, and the experiences of those at Camp Oceti Sakowin.

Veteran Kelly Smith standing in front of a sign constructed to welcome Veterans Stand For. Photo by Walter Yeates

Standing Rock, North Dakota — Walking alone in nearly arctic temperature isn’t the wisest decision, especially without having prior training to handle such harsh winter conditions. However, Camp Oceti Sakowin’s majestic nature rivaled that of Rivendell from Lord of the Rings book and film lore. Having a water protector mounted upon a capacious white horse ride past in the middle of a blizzard almost seemed surreal, yet your mind quickly recalls the reality of the situation at hand. The brutality inflicted on those gathered at Camp Oceti Sakowin has largely been ignored by media outlets owned by corporate entities.

LA Times Takes Veteran Out Of Context, Fails To Mention Civil Rights Abuses

LA Times reporter William Yardley interviewed Dex McLelland, a member of the North Carolina contingent of Veterans heading towards the camp site for an article entitled, “Army halts Dakota Access pipeline: ‘Today, the voices of indigenous people were heard’. Despite recording the now-corrected error, the veteran reporter misquoted McLelland as “Don’t you think they’ve got enough slack?”After McLelland gave an interview through Twitter, LA Times quickly changed the quote to read:

You can’t allow big money to come in and rip up the Constitution in the faces of America’s oldest citizens, these the original Americans. Don’t you think they’ve caught enough slack? About makes you cry when you think about it.

(Left-Right beginning with 1st male) Brandon Trump, Dexter McLelland, and Lachlan Ross. (Background) Tristi Finkbeiner in red hat; during a camp wide prayer circle at Camp Oceti Sakowin. Photo by Walter Yeates

At no other point in the article were the documented atrocities against the First People at Standing Rock mentioned including water protectors being shot in head with rubber bullets, using concussion grenades against American citizens, and even targeting journalists attempting to report on the ground from Standing Rock. McLelland gave the following remarks about the people of Oceti Sakowin following his time at the camp:

The Sioux people of Oceti Sakowin were some of the most beautiful and kind people I have met, and they spoke of and stood in solidarity for peace. Everyone on camp was like minded and welcoming. They have a great culture and are fighting to get off of the black snake (oil). Which is even more relevant since a pipeline burst about 150 miles from Camp Oceti.

The Belle Fourche Pipeline leaked an estimated 176,000 gallons of crude oil into the Ash Coulee Creek on December 5th. “Mission is not done yet,” McLelland cautioned as he spoke of Energy Transfer Partners (majority owners of the Dakota Access Pipeline) and them probably having an endgame in mind that does not involve a rerouting of the pipeline.“His sense of patriotism is as pale as his skin,” responded McLelland when asked of his thoughts about LA Times reporter William Yardley.Video footage of McLelland’s actual comments to William Yardley can be seen here. The linked exchange is precisely where McLelland was taken out of context and misquoted.

Wesley Clark Jr Comments On Veterans Standing For Mission

From Veterans Standing For Standing Rock Go Fund Me website:

We are veterans of the United States Armed Forces, including the U.S. Army, United States Marine Corps, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force and U.S. Coast Guard and we are calling for our fellow veterans to assemble as a peaceful, unarmed militia at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation on Dec 4–7 and defend the water protectors from assault and intimidation at the hands of the militarized police force and DAPL security. 2K EVENT CAPACITY ACHIEVED: Event capacity based on accommodations, travel logistics and supplies; given the time we have to coordinate, resources available and the shipping and weather conditions in the region has been set at 2,000 rostered participants. We currently have over 2,100 Veterans on the roster. Our goal now is to prioritize this list to Veterans and Civilian personnel involved with operations, planning & onsite execution. We will be collecting names for future missions on a new roster (https://goo.gl/forms/37SEWGvbeMLpcrvY2), next mission could be as early as the 2nd week of December. More to come. The funds we raise on this page will go towards providing transportation and supplies for the brave patriots that come and stand with us. We’ll be standing alongside peaceful water protectors, who’ve endured violent attacks from the private security funded by DAPL and more brutality and arrests at the hands of militarized police and DAPL security. We have full support of the Sioux tribe elders and will be cooperating with them every step of the way.

As stated by Chris Duesing; Veterans Standing For Operations Manager, well over 4,000 Veteran participants eventually made the trip to Standing Rock and over 11,000 were accounted for including non rostered Veterans and civilian volunteers.

“I feel the mission was a success, Veterans Stand For Standing Rock got there just in time for the victory party,” said Veterans Standing For co-organizer Wesley Clark Jr as he reflected back on his time at Camp Oceti Sakowin and whether Veterans Standing For was able to successfully aid the Sioux and other tribes at Standing Rock.

After thanking the Veterans and especially the Indigenous People for their hard work leading up to the Army Corps of Engineers denying Energy Transfer Partners horizontal drilling permits on December 4th. “I feel the pipeline is dead even if Energy Transfer Partners doesn’t know it,” Clark responded when asked if he had concerns over President-Elect Donald Trump restarting the Dakota Access Pipeline.

When asked about the purpose behind the Forgiveness Ceremony for Veteran members of the 7th Calvary, Clark stated he wanted it to take place due to him serving in the Regiment and their history with Native Americans.

Clark Never Had Access To Veterans Standing For Funds

The first appearance of rumors of mishandled donated funds to “Veterans Stand For Standing Rock” seemingly appeared on the Oath Keepers website. The Oath Keepers are a self-proclaimed militia who often tie their operations to right wing outlets such as InfoWars. From the Oath Keepers:

Oath Keepers is a non-partisan association of current and formerly serving military, police, and first responders, who pledge to fulfill the oath all military and police take to “defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” That oath, mandated by Article VI of the Constitution itself, is to the Constitution, not to the politicians, and Oath Keepers declare that they will not obey unconstitutional orders, such as orders to disarm the American people, to conduct warrantless searches, or to detain Americans as “enemy combatants” in violation of their ancient right to jury trial. See the Oath Keepers Declaration of Orders We Will Not Obey for details.

Clark acknowledged there were some logistical problems on the ground once Veterans began arriving in greater numbers than expected; however, he firmly denied any misuse of funds. “I never had any control over the funds; a rumor put out on December 6th or 7th by right-wing media began the rumors of me stealing money.” Michael Wood Jr the other co-organizer behind Veterans Stand For released comments detailing the organizational challenges on the ground, also reaffirming that Wesley Clark Jr did not embezzle any money from the organization.

When asked if he regretted anything about his time at Standing Rock, Clark responded that he feels like a “shit head” for having not been able to meet everyone on the ground. Due to the harsh weather conditions he did not want to take up space on buses transporting Water Protectors to and from the nearby casino, where many attached to Veterans Stand For sought refuge from the blizzard.

Clark also made a point to assert that the First People face a number of other issues around the country, stating that Standing Rock was just one of several injustices.

Watch Dex McLelland Speak to LA Times Reporter William Yardley here.

Watch Camp Oceti Sakowin Learn of the Army Corps of Engineers Decision here.

To keep up with Walter’s journalism you can follow him @GentlemansHall on Twitter